Columbia Pulp statement regarding fire at Innovatio

On Tuesday morning, January 29th, a fire destroyed the Innovatio test facility’s ag-residue pulping research complex. Our thoughts are with Mark Lewis, president of Sustainable Fiber Technologies and the Innovatio test facility staff. We would also like to thank the fire crews from around the region who acted swiftly to keep the Dayton community safe from further damage.

Many of our own constituents, partners, employees and customers have reached out to express concern about the extent of the damage to the Sustainable Fiber Technologies (SFT) facility and any damage to Columbia Pulp’s Pomeroy pulping facility and main manufacturing facility under construction in Starbuck, Washington. We thank everyone for their concern. The fire that destroyed property at the Innovatio site did not impact Columbia Pulp facilities, straw inventory or process equipment.

While Columbia Pulp has had a technical relationship with SFT, Phoenix Pulp and Polymer and Mark Lewis, our legal, business and manufacturing entities are run independently. We continue to produce products daily at our Pomeroy facility and look forward to our first production at the Lyons Ferry Facility in the spring.